Descendants
by ShiroiAlice
Summary: Years have passed and our heroes have moved on with their lives - taken on new responsibility, had families of their own. But when the time comes for their children to take up the mantle, will they be strong enough to live up to their parents? Or will they stand in the shadows of those that came before? Rated T for language and possible graphic violence. Please review!
1. Wards

Believe it or not, but this is kind of my first time doing this sort of thing. Writing fanfiction. I have serious admiration for everyone who can churn out chapters on a weekly basis and will come at this the best I can. Any and all reviews would be wonderful! (No, seriously, I have no idea what I'm doing, and it was probably suicidal to start with a next generation fic).

Yu Yu Hakusho obviously belongs to the esteemed Yoshihiro Togashi. I am just here to admire.

#

Misaki winced as her running shoes hit the gravel, the loud crunches under her feet signaling to everything in a hundred foot radius exactly where she was. Springing up onto a concrete curb, she paused. The park was empty. The plastic tunnels yawned nothing and the swings hung perfectly still. There were no sounds, no breeze. But there was a stifling amount of nothing.

The pressure shifted in the air behind her and Misaki spun, nearly losing her footing on the curb as she leapt backward. Pulling out of the shadows, a creature wrenched itself upright. From a distance it might look human, but up close it was just wrong. It had too many limbs and its face was filled with fangs – a spider demon, or at least a half-blood.

"Thanks for ruining a perfectly good night," Misaki growled. "And for being so goddamn ugly."

The spider demon hissed, jettisoning a foul-smelling spray of acidic goo that splattered where Misaki had stood a moment before. She was a blur in flight, darting away from the beast and coming back to level a kick at its abdomen. The demon screeched as her foot connected, and ribs cracked beneath it.

"Shame you don't have an exoskeleton. All daddy gave you was an ugly face and bad breath."

"And what did daddy give you?" it hissed back.

Misaki smirked. "Guns." She leveled her index finger at its head.

The entire park was illuminated for a split second. A driver in a passing car slammed on his brakes, peering out the window. The flash had been so sudden – lightning on a cloudless night? But the park was dark again, and empty. A trick of the mind. He kept driving, shaking his head and muttering about getting enough sleep.

Misaki gathered the loose strands of her black hair back into a high ponytail and cracked her neck. The sheen of sweat on her body from firing her spirit gun made her shiver in the cold night air. Her mom might be able to tell she'd gotten into something again. Damn. For not having much of a sixth sense, her mom did have some pretty weird… _mom powers_. Which sucked.

She bounced on the balls of her feet for a moment, mentally checking over her body before breaking back into a steady jog. Running had cleared her mind of the face that she'd caught in the middle of a crowd earlier that day. A tall man walked past her in an intersection, and she'd glanced in his direction. His eyes were sunken, his face sharp, and when she'd stared just a moment too long, he'd caught her watching. And he'd smiled with sharp, pointy teeth, his eyes full black with tiny points of light. He had seen her seeing him.

So there had been more demons lately, so what? It wasn't like they hadn't come to ningenkai before. I mean, damn. It wasn't like she hadn't had to kick some ass before either. But she had never, ever fired the spirit gun against a demon, especially out where someone could have seen. Genkai would've reamed her if she were still alive. Small blessings.

Suddenly she froze. Something was coming toward her, bearing down upon her from the alley running to her left. It was big, and loud, and clumsy.

"Seriously, Kazuki? Are you trying to wake up the whole damn neighborhood?" Misaki accused as her friend from childhood ran up to her side and braced himself on his knees, panting.

"Shut up. Not all of us are obsessed with running around at night. Some people might call that creepy, you know." He straightened up at a whole head taller than her.

"So, where's the fire?" she asked, grinning suggestively up at the hair he'd dyed red and spiked. He thought it looked cool. Misaki thought he looked like an idiot.

"I was actually already out, but about five minutes ago the wards on your house were broken."

The smirk fell off of her lips. "What'd you waste time coming to get me for? You practically live next door, you big dummy!" She broke into a hard sprint up the alley Kazuki had come down. He chased after her, gasping out answers as they went.

"I told you, I was already out! You were closer and I felt something right by you. But then there was a huge burst of energy and it was gone. You – damn, you run fast – you shot it, didn't you?"

"Yeah, and if you tell my mom, I'll kill you."

"If I tell Keiko, she'll kill us both."

"Fair point."

Neither of them brought up what it would be like if they arrived at the house and Misaki's mother wasn't there to punish them.

The Urameshi house was set back from the road a little, gated with a long drive weaving through trees. After Genkai's death, only this house and Misaki's insistence that she would die of boredom in the country kept Keiko from moving out to the mountain compound. Whenever her dad wasn't around, Misaki could sense her mom's restlessness. Misaki didn't think that it was something that could be cured by peace and quiet.

"Where the hell are your parents?" she asked as they hit her block, which was a slow incline cut into a hill. She slowed her pace for Kazuki, who was starting to look worse for wear. He glared at her with his dark red eyes.

"Mountain – compound," he gasped. "Seriously, this thing is vertical. How are you still running?"

"There's no way this is happening when your parents just happen to be out at Genkai's," Misaki growled. "Sorry, bro. Got to go." She pushed herself into a sprint, feeling sweat crawl down her back as she pumped her way up to the gate. Punching the passcode into the tiny metal keybox felt like it took an eternity. Her mom was home alone, and the wards were broken. Images of sunken eyes and pointed teeth flashed through her brain.

There was something in the trees. She knew it the second that the gate rolled back into place. Something stood between her and the house at the top of the drive. It didn't feel big, per se, but it still felt strange. Misaki suddenly wished she hadn't left Kazuki behind. With his freak powers, he probably could have told her what the thing's shoe size was. And how many shoes it might need.

"Come on out, beastie!" she yelled into the darkness. The trees stirred in the autumn breeze, but otherwise it was silent.

Nothing appeared amiss as the house came into view. Lights on the deck were lit, and there was a soft glow on the bottom floor. Misaki reached out into the night, feeling for the warmth of her mother's energy. It was there, but it was wrong. Something was wrong. And something was behind –

"Oh God, please don't hurt me!" A large blue creature dropped to its knees and covered its balding head and horns. Misaki blinked at the size of its massive body trembling. "I have a family! Well, not really a family, more like an overlord, but please!"

"What are you?" she asked, stepping back warily, her fists still raised.

"An ogre," it said, tentatively lowering its hands and looking up at her with a distressed expression. "_The_ ogre, really. My name is George. I serve Lord Koenma."

"Koenma?" Misaki repeated, then glanced over her shoulder at the house. "Wait, is he here? Did you guys break the wards?"

"Get out of there, Misaki! I got this guy!" Kazuki came barreling up the driveway, a shaft of light flickering in and out of existence between his palms. "I'll slice him to pieces! I'll cut him! I'll – I'll – "

"Don't hurt yourself!" Misaki called to him as he stopped, gasping for air. "You can't do anything like that! Besides, I think everything's okay. Well, kind of. It's just Koenma, and his ogre."

"Ko – Koenma?" Kazuki panted, keeling over into the grass. "Seriously? I ran all this way for that?"

"It's good that you're back so quickly," Ogre said, straightening up. "There's news."

"From Makai?" Misaki wasn't surprised. She was, however, exhausted. "Is everyone okay?"

"Well, in a manner of speaking, I suppose."

"George, that doesn't sound like everyone is okay. It sounds like no one is maimed, but not necessarily okay."


	2. Guests

Obviously I can't take credit for all of the awesome that Yoshihiro Togashi brewed up in the 90's, and I'm not going to try. But I'm going to have some fun fabricating the kids. I hope you enjoy the new gang (and the old) as much as I do!

#

Misaki dropped down onto the sofa in her living room and scowled across the coffee table at a handsome young man with a blue binky in his mouth. She'd liked him better when he was a toddler. Now that he'd taken on his adolescent form full time, she trusted him less. He always dressed up for bad occasions – like when her dad wanted to break the news to everyone about the stupid Council. From the moment Ogre brought her and Kazuki into the house he'd been wearing too serious of an expression for her liking. He'd sent Ogre off on some task and asked her and Kazuki to take a seat.

"Drink this. You'll catch a chill." Her mother set tea down on the table for everyone. Misaki picked up her mug without breaking her death glare. She wasn't about to drop her guard, but she knew better than to say no to her mother when there were guests in the house. Even if the definition of 'guest' had to be stretched.

"I apologize for showing up without warning, especially considering the effect I seem to have had on your house," Koenma began, blinking down into his cup of tea. "If it were a lighter matter, I would have merely sent a messenger, but something like this is much better handled in person."

"Just spit it out already," Misaki grumbled, and Kazuki elbowed her in the ribs. "Ow! What was that for?"

"I'm never going to get used to you sassing the Lord of Reikai."

"Son of the Lord of Reikai."

"Whatever."

"Whatever, indeed," Koenma said, clearing his throat. His face had reddened ever so slightly. "I was discussing the future of Reikai's involvement with the human world, which was inevitably bound to involve the two of you at some point."

"No way, binky breath, we've had this conversation," Misaki interrupted. "I want nothing to do with being a spirit detective. Neither does Kazuki. Mom, why did you let him into the house?"

Keiko sat on the sofa next to her daughter, watching her with a patient expression that always made her feel like a child having a tantrum. "He's not asking you to be a spirit detective, exactly. Really, if you'd just hear him out, the circumstances have changed."

"You're on his side?"

"There are no sides in this, Misaki," she said, her brow furrowing and her voice firm. "Except a side that protects this family and a side that would do it harm."

At the risk of hearing more about her duties to her family, Misaki refocused her stubborn irritation back to Koenma, whose expression had also grown stern.

Kazuki, who had taken up the safer role of keeping out of Misaki's battles, finally spoke up. "Whatever you're asking us to do, it has something to do with the guy in the next room, right?"

Misaki glanced at him, and he met her gaze evenly. "Koenma didn't break the wards on your house. It was him."

Presumably at the mention of his presence, a boy no older than Kazuki himself stepped into the soft glow of the lamps. He pushed his inky black hair out of his eyes, which were a cold, disinterested gray. Kazuki bristled almost instantly. The temperature of the room felt like it was dropping, and not in a way that reminded him of home.

"This," Koenma said with an air of ceremony, "is Hikaru. He is the current spirit detective."

"How?" Kazuki blurted. "He's not even human! I mean, not… not really."

"Kazuki," Keiko chided. "Your mother wouldn't appreciate such a comment."

"No," said Hikaru. "I am not really human, but for most intents and purposes, you can consider me as such." He made no move to join the circle sitting around the table, but instead fell silent, barely standing in the light.

"Hikaru is a complicated case on his own," Koenma continued, choosing to gloss over the drama rather than participate. "And like he said, you can consider him human, but I wouldn't underestimate him if I were either of you. And like I said, he is the current spirit detective. I would like the two of you to join him on his next assignment."

"Sounds interesting," Misaki said, a small smile on her lips.

"What?" Kazuki asked, his red eyes going wide. "Suddenly it sounds interesting to you?"

"Well, it's not like we're going to get contracted to Reikai or anything. That's what that guy is for," Misaki answered. She dropped her voice and leaned toward him. "And I feel like whatever case we get assigned might have something to do with the friend I made in the park earlier. That one was a little too close to home, and I'm not happy about it."

"I'm not sure I like it, but it's the right thing to do," Kazuki agreed, glancing back at Hikaru again. "There's something about this guy that feels off, though."

"That's what's interesting." Misaki grinned at him, then turned back to Koenma. "Okay, we're in, but there's something that I want in return."

"Oh, boy," Koenma sighed. "And what could that possibly be?"

"My mom had better be comfortable, and safe, and happy while we're running around doing your dirty work," Misaki said, her eyes glittering impishly. "That means that you surround her with friends, and you figure out a way for her to see my dad at some point."

"You want me to take Yusuke off the Council?" Koenma spat in bewilderment. "I don't know who you think I am, but I can't just rip a Council member out of Makai at the drop of a hat. It would be total chaos!"

"So maybe it only has to be a couple of hours of total chaos." Misaki shrugged. "How you do it isn't my problem. Just make sure it happens."

"Come now, Keiko, surely you understand how impossible something like that is," Koenma said, trying to appeal to Misaki's mother, who was often the voice of reason. "I'll see to it that you're protected while Misaki is away, but something like this…"

"But Lord Koenma, surely the Council must recognize your authority on some level," Keiko said, fixing him with her large brown eyes. "Even if only for a few hours, it would mean everything to us."

"Really, must you look at me like that?" Koenma scowled, caught between the imploring stares of mother and daughter. "The two of you planned this, didn't you?" After some indiscernible mutter and a cry of frustration, he caved. "Fine! A few hours are all I can promise! And you can't even begin to imagine the kinds of strings I'm going to have to pull!" Keiko smiled contentedly into her tea.

"That's why you're the Lord of Reikai," Kazuki said, smiling with Masaki and Keiko.

"Son of the Lord of – "

"_Whatever_."

"If we might get to the matter at hand." The timbre of Haruki's voice was the sort that could deflate any lighthearted conversation. The line of his mouth was set and his eyes were narrowed at Koenma, bordering on impatience.

"Koenma, sir," George the ogre called, barreling past Hikaru into the room. "I made contact but –" George glanced around the room at everyone and seemed to rethink his words. "The, uh, the _subject_ has sort of, well. Gone off the radar somewhere near the border. And, um, well, there are certain people who – who aren't very, uh, happy about it. If you know what I mean."

"Ogre, I'm not sure what annoys me more," Koenma said, his left eye developing a small twitch. "The fact that you are jeopardizing crucial information or the fact that I have no idea what the hell you're talking about." He stood and brushed off his blue robes. "If you'll excuse me for a moment, it seems there's a matter that requires someone with a fully functioning brain. Hikaru can debrief you on what your assignment will entail." Without further ado, Koenma pinched George's right ear between his fingers and dragged him into another room, muttering angrily about the quality of help these days.

"I will keep this short," Hikaru said, crossing the room and stopping across the table. He still did not sit down. "An organization calling itself Tartarus is threatening the stability of Makai by executing a series of high-profile kidnappings of Council members. With the Council distracted, there has been an upsurge of higher class demons finding their way into Ningenkai."

"And we have to neutralize the threat?" Misaki suggested, crossing her arms. "So, what, we're pest control now?"

"Hardly," Hikaru said, turning his gray eyes on hers. The words dried up in her throat. "Out of the demons that have escaped into Ningenkai, there is one in particular that must return to Makai free of harm. We are to locate the subject and provide a return escort. I have been informed that one of you is exceptionally adept at sensing the spiritual energy of other forces." He shifted his gaze to Kazuki, who turned his attention to the hardwood floors.

"Let me get this straight. We are not butt-kicking. We are babysitting." Misaki sighed. "I should have known it wouldn't be anything serious."

Hikaru's face was stony. "I believe I mentioned that the kidnappings that have occurred have all involved Council members. Do not make the mistake of thinking that this exempts family members. If anyone is stuck babysitting on this assignment-"

"Oh, so you're here to make sure that nothing comes after me?" Misaki asked, her voice escalating. Who was this punk, coming into her house and telling her that she was some kind of liability?

"The subject of this mission was also attempting to avoid any sort of… monitoring, and for all we know has already been taken," Hikaru said, his voice and expression unchanged, mirroring the opposite of Misaki's growing rage. "Your pride is only counterproductive in this capacity."

"Your face is about to be counterproductive in this capacity," she growled, moving to stand, but Kazuki grabbed her wrist.

"Misaki, don't you see?" Her mother was looking at Hikaru with a gentle expression that she couldn't even begin to wrap her mind around. "This is the best way for you to assist the Council without the risk of being taken. Reikai will protect me. And we'll both get to see your father. They're doing us a favor, rather than keeping us out of it completely. Sometimes being kept in the dark is the most dangerous position."

"Just listen," Kazuki said quietly, letting go of her.

Misaki was silent. She didn't like it, but this was something that her mother was right about. And it sucked when her mother was right.

"I have some grim news, I'm afraid," Koenma said, appearing in the doorway. "Your quarry has vanished somewhere between Makai and Ningenkai, but not before some friends crossed over the border."

"So we get to kick ass after all?" Misaki asked. Kazuki rolled his eyes and flopped backward onto the cushions.


	3. Suspect

Obviously I can't take credit for all of the awesome that Yoshihiro Togashi brewed up in the 90's, and I'm not going to try. But I'm going to have some fun fabricating the kids. I hope you enjoy the new gang (and the old) as much as I do!

#

Akane had run until she could be certain that she was alone. The forest around her hummed with life, but nothing sinister had been able to follow. She'd always been fast, but the bite on her leg had slowed her significantly.

_A tracking poison…_ She winced as she pulled up the corner of the bandage on her right thigh and observed the damage. Blood glittered under the moonlight, still oozing from the cut, but the smell of rot was gone. If she hadn't had the sense to take a knife to herself, the beasts would have followed her scent until she fell. And then it wouldn't matter how fast she was.

It was ironic to her that she had come to Ningenkai for cover. Nothing she had seen of humans had met her expectations, but the most remarkable things she had found had nothing to do with the creatures. She slowed her heartbeat, quieted the noise of her blood pounding in her ears from the run, and listened to the untouched earth. Everything from the sound the trees made in the wind to the scent it carried was different. None of it was like home, but it had brought her an unexpected sense of calm. She felt safe.

#

The silence was killing her. As she climbed the seemingly endless steps to Genkai's mountain compound, flanked by Hikaru and Kazuki, all she could think about was how nice it would be to suddenly be attacked by one of the demons they were tracking. Anything to not have to be stuck with these two for another second.

"Man, I never get used to these stairs," Kazuki grumbled as they trudged along.

"Poor stamina," Hikaru said, his tone barely audible but undeniable in its disdain.

"You say something to me?"

"I was simply remarking upon what appears to be a lack of self-discipline."

She took it back. Silence would be an improvement.

"Look, we're helping you out, whatever your name is. You shouldn't go around bad-mouthing the people who are doing you a favor," Kazuki said. "I don't know about you, but I have a code-"

"Kazuki, this isn't the time to tell him about the code," Misaki interrupted. "Shut your mouth and tell me if you can sense anything up ahead. Hikaru, what do you think the chances are of something beating us to the compound?" Misaki Urameshi, boy wrangler. Ugh.

Both Kazuki and Hikaru froze on the step below her, and she turned to see what the holdup was.

"There's virtually no chance that anything-" Hikaru began, right as Kazuki's red eyes narrowed.

"Something's there. It's not at the compound, and it's not my parents. Don't worry, it's not really close to us or anything, but it feels… weird."

"Okay, nice word choice. What the hell do you mean by weird?" Misaki pressed.

"It's not, like, solid somehow. It feels more like a shadow or something."

"Chasing shadows. What an effective use of our time," Hikaru said.

"I'm just about done with you, punk," Kazuki growled.

"Okay, okay, take it down a notch, both of you," Misaki said, putting her hands up. "You're both pretty. Let's just get to the compound and talk to everyone about opening the portal."

"I still think we should do something about the demons that are already here," Kazuki said as they continued their march up the steps.

"I'm with you, Kaz, but Reikai wants us to find this subject or whatever as soon as possible," Misaki said. She shifted the pack on her shoulder and stretched her arms. It had been two days since she'd obliterated the spider demon in the park, but she hadn't stopped thinking about it. Real combat was something that she'd never really experienced before, and maybe it was added to by her runner's high, but the thought of another fight gave her chills – really, really good chills.

"It's possible our subject is organizing the party from Makai," Hikaru said, looking for all that they were taking a pleasant stroll in a park somewhere while Kazuki puffed along beside him. "Why bother with weaker demons when we have a target?"

"I'm just not really warm to the idea of anyone getting eaten," Misaki said, glancing over her shoulder at him.

He shrugged lightly. "Collateral damage is to be expected when the borders are weakened like this. As long as the Council is disjointed and the patrols are diverted, we can expect more casualties." He said it like he was telling her what the weather forecast was for the next few days. She glanced over at Kazuki and he met her gaze, eyebrows furrowed. She knew that Kazuki didn't like Hikaru, but she was glad that they both agreed he was a little… off.

"So, Hikaru, when did Reikai approach you about becoming spirit detective?" Misaki asked, changing the subject to try and dispel some of the weirdness. "My mom says that the minute they found out Kazuki and I existed they were dropping in like bad relatives."

"I was nine when I agreed to it," he answered, his gray eyes fixed on the steps as they climbed.

"Nine?" Misaki and Kazuki echoed.

"How did that even happen?" Misaki asked. "Did you even know Reikai existed? Or demons? I mean, were your parents just okay with it?"

"My parents had nothing to do with it, seeing as they were already dead," he said.

Shit. She had nothing to say to that. Silence fell over them again, occasionally interrupted by wind coursing down the mountainside and rustling through the boughs of the trees. The sky was leaden and threated to open up and pour at any moment. She hugged her red jacket around her shoulders as they pressed forward.

"We're close," Hikaru said.

Sure enough, they crested the flight, and the temple roof came into view.

"Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you," Kazuki said, dropping his pack and stretching his arms up over his head. "That never gets any easier."

Misaki stared at Hikaru, who simply continued to walk toward the compound. He passed the tori and paused, placing a hand on the right post.

"Come on, my dad's going to be freaking thrilled that you're here," Kazuki said, shouldering past her. "I'm pretty sure he's still hoping we're going to get married someday."

"You've got to be kidding. I said no when we were four, and I'm going to keep saying no until my last dying breath," Misaki said, shaking Hikaru from her mind. It was probably just another weird sense thing, like what Kazuki had all the time.

"You think I don't tell him that, too? You know what he's like. Wait, hold on a second." Kazuki froze, his red eyes scanning the trees behind them. Hikaru turned, and Misaki also tried to follow his gaze. She didn't get any of the sense stuff, but both of the boys stood stock still, as if the slightest movement would bring lightning down from the sky. The hair on the back of her neck stood up. She couldn't tell if that was her sensing something, the thought of fighting something again, or just the fact that it was starting to get really damn cold out.

"I got nothing. Never mind," Kazuki said, turning around like it hadn't happened. His expression, however, was still troubled.

"Was it that shadow thing again?" Misaki asked. She would have sworn that she saw Hikaru roll his eyes, but she also felt like he was too serious to do something like that. But still. It might have happened.

"Yeah, I think so," Kazuki said. "I don't get it at all. Never happened before…"

"Misaki!" A familiar voice boomed across the courtyard. "How is my favorite daughter?"

"I'm not your daughter, Kazuma," Misaki called out, unable to keep the laughter out of her voice. Hikaru looked at her in alarm, and she shrugged as if to say, what do you want me to do about it?

"Aww, c'mon. You've been my daughter from day one." And just like that, Kazuma rounded the corner and pulled her into a hug that crushed her lungs and lifted her feet from the ground.

"You know my ribs? Yeah, still using those," she gasped.

Kazuki rubbed the back of his neck and shook his head. "Dad, seriously. Every time."

"Kazuki, don't you ever screw it up with this girl," Kazuma said, putting Misaki down and beaming at both of them. "My love, the kids finally showed up!"

A screen slid back and Yukina stepped out onto the walkway, a soft smile making her look as gentle and warm as Misaki remembered. The older Kazuki had grown, the more time his parents seemed to be spending their time out at Genkai's place. Even if his dad came back to town fairly often, she couldn't quite remember the last time she'd seen his mom.

"It's wonderful to see you again, Misaki," she said. "Koenma told us that he'd be sending you along. Please make yourself comfortable here."

Misaki had always liked Yukina, but could never completely overcome a sense of distance between them. When she looked at the beautiful apparition it felt a little like watching the ocean surface glitter and shine. She could never figure out what was underneath, or how deep it might go.

"You are Yukina, the ice apparition," Hikaru said suddenly, startling Misaki back out of her thoughts. "You have been perfecting controlled passage through the portal to Makai from this site." It sounded like an accusation more than anything else.

Kuwabara coughed uncomfortably, but his eyes were sharp and focused on Hikaru. Misaki bit her lip, and Kazuki's jaw dropped.

But Yukina handled this unknown youth with commendable grace. "Reikai approached me some time ago about experimenting on attempting to open the portal for certain people to pass through." Her large red eyes regarded him carefully. "Certain people who possess a considerable amount of spirit energy and who would act in the interest of keeping peace between the three worlds. People such as yourself, I am sure, Hikaru."

Hikaru's eyes narrowed. "I've always thought tampering with the portal to be foolish."

Yukina smiled again. "Then I'm afraid that is something we won't agree on."

Misaki glanced at Kazuki, sure that the awkwardness of the escalating situation was written all over her face. They had to diffuse this before it got ugly.

Kazuma seemed to have the same thought. "Let's go into the kitchen, my love. Some tea sounds pretty good right about now, doesn't it? I know Misaki wants some, she's just way too polite to ask."

"Since when has Misaki ever been polite about something?" Kazuki muttered and Kazuma erupted into nervous laughter. Nevertheless, Yukina turned and headed back indoors without another word, and everyone else was quick to follow.

Everyone, that is, except for Hikaru. As the Kuwabaras swept ahead of her, Misaki glanced over her shoulder at Hikaru. He was there for a moment, his expression still harsh and stubborn, then the air seemed to shift and he was gone. She blinked. His movement had been too fast for her to follow. Where had he run off to now?

"Let him go," Kazuki said quietly, reappearing at her side. "There was something really weird going on between him and my mom, and it's probably better if he just gets a little air right now."

"Yeah," Misaki conceded, but was still dissatisfied. She felt like she was looking at a picture of Hikaru with part of his face scratched out. Something about the image just wasn't adding up, and she wasn't sure what the missing parts were. Not yet, anyway.

He knew the moment they'd arrived at the compound. He tried to grill Yukina about the portal without even telling Misaki or Kazuki that he had any information at all – judging by Kazuki's facial expression, he hadn't known that Yukina had been trying to control a portal to Makai, and Misaki hadn't either. Even if Reikai was asking her to do it, she couldn't help but wonder how Makai's Council felt about it – not all that great, she was sure. And something about the way Yukina had looked at him, the way she'd spoken to him… Yukina had seen something in Hikaru and reacted to it. Misaki needed to know what that was.


	4. Taken

Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU for the reviews and the follows! Seriously, I love you. Like, a lot.

#

"I don't like this mission they put you guys on, Kazuki," Kuwabara said to his son over steaming mugs of tea. They sat at a low table adjacent from the kitchen, where Misaki was speaking to Yukina in a hushed tone. He could see from her eyes and body language that she was upset. _The kid has no idea_, he thought, grinding his teeth. "There's some crazy stuff happening in Makai right now and you don't have any business getting right in the middle of it."

"So, am I right in thinking that this "hunt" they have us on is a lot more delicate than finding some rogue demon and turning it over?" Kazuki glanced around and lowered his voice. "Dad, did you get any kind of feeling about the guy that came with us? His name's Hikaru, and he's the spirit detective, but I swear that's all we know, and I don't like it at all. The only feeling I got is just straight up bad."

Kazuma suddenly became very interested in his tea. "I don't know, he seemed little bit like a jerk, I guess –"

"Dad," Kazuki interrupted, "I can see that you're trying to cover something up. You suck at that. Just tell me what you got out of him. There's something more going with that guy and you sensed it, right?"

Kazuma sighed and looked up, meeting the red eyes of his beloved. She shook her head ever so slightly, her pale green hair shining in the afternoon sunlight. He could fall for that face over and over again.

"Sorry, Kaz, but it's not my story to tell." He crossed his arms and lifted his chin. Kazuki groaned. That was pretty much that, as far as pressing his father was concerned. He knew stubborn when he saw it, and his dad put stubborn on another level.

Yukina focused her attention out of the kitchen window as Misaki implored her to divulge what she'd understood when she'd met the strange boy outside. A bird lit on the sill, its wings and chest pale shades of gray, black plumage covering its head. She couldn't stop her mind from wandering again. Where was he? Was he safe? She wanted so terribly to leave on her own, depart for Makai and do whatever was necessary to find him again. If she asked Kazuma, she knew that he would indulge her recklessness, at least for a little while, but that was only because he loved her so dearly, not because it would be a fruitful search.

"Yukina, please."

She looked at Misaki, whose brown eyes were as disarming as her mother's. That set line in her mouth, however, that was all Yusuke. It was too much to look at her in that moment. Where could they have gone? This poor girl.

"Kazuma, we have to tell them." She spoke before she could stop herself. It was not right to keep them in the dark about something on this scale.

Despite the years of secrecy, whenever she'd required him most, he had managed to appear even without her knowing the truth. Even now, she didn't fully understand why. She allowed him to have his distance and keep his secret without letting on that she knew nearly everything. If he wanted it that way, she would allow it, but that didn't mean that it didn't tear her up inside every time they made contact. Secrets did not protect her, as her brother believed, and she did not want to send Misaki and Kazuki towards hell without them knowing some semblance of the truth.

"Mom?" Kazuki was alarmed by his mother's pained expression as she led Misaki over to the table and urged her to sit. He had never seen her face so drawn and pale, even in sickness. She sat down carefully next to Kazuma, who gently cradled one of her hands.

"I am sure that the boy you are travelling with is already aware of this," Yukina said, her eyes full of sadness and fixed on Misaki. A sinking feeling was forming in her gut, a horrible sense of dread. "I'm not sure why he has chosen not to tell you, but I am almost certain that he believed he was acting in everyone's best interest. Misaki, even as I'm choosing to tell you this, it's only because I trust you to listen to me and be careful. Depending on how you react, you could put yourself in lot of danger. That's something that none of us want."

"Please." Misaki forced herself to take a breath. Part of her wanted to demand Yukina to keep it to herself if it was so goddamn awful, whatever it was. "Just tell me. I'll be calm."

"You must be calm," Yukina said. "As Kazuma and I have been. This is not easy for any of us to deal with. It's your father, Misaki. His presence vanished from all three worlds a week ago." She didn't pause, even as Misaki's face crumbled. "No one has seen nor heard from him, and it is believed that Tartarus has taken him, along with two other Council members. It's believed that Tartarus wishes to seize control of Makai by… detaining Council members."

"We never thought Yusuke would be one of them," Kazuma said, his voice tight. He seemed unable to look Misaki in the eyes. "I don't know what kind of monster could take him out without signs of a fight, but… that's what happened, we think. No one really knows."

There was a roaring in her ears that she couldn't really explain. The room just got so freaking loud all of a sudden, and way too hot, and she couldn't sit still anymore.

"Misaki?" Kazuki asked. She didn't hear him.

She was on her feet, then at the door. "I just need some air, okay?" Then she was gone.

"Give her a few minutes," Kazuma said. Kazuki had already stood without giving it any thought. "She'll come back." But his tone wasn't very convincing. Kazuki knew her. He knew the paths her mind would go down about who to blame, and what she might hit to try and make herself feel better, regardless if there was any fault to bear.

Horrible thoughts flew through her mind like a thousand bullets as she lost her footing out under the trees. She braced herself against an old, gnarled trunk, trying to breathe and center herself. For a whole week… and she hadn't felt anything. Their friends hadn't told them anything. And this whole assignment from Reikai was just some kind of ridiculous setup so that she wouldn't find out and run off on her own. Bullshit.

"We'll see who doesn't run off," she muttered, then closed her eyes and concentrated. "Where are you, you bastard?" There was one detail she wanted to attend to before going back inside and making Yukina open the portal.

#

The beauty of the forest was that it had remained, for the most part, unchanged. Evergreens older than the temple still covered the mountain, with new growth pushing out further every year. It was a sanctuary to all things living.

He had momentarily toyed with the idea of taking the long trek down to the ocean to listen to the surf crashing. It had effectively drowned out his thoughts in the past. Today, however, it seemed more appropriate to dwell on them. To remember. And so he found himself at the base of a large conifer, an immense sugi that had been stretching its roots for hundreds of years.

"_I should have known I'd find you here. Why do you always come back to this one?"_

He turned, gray eyes wide and searching, but no one stood behind him. Of course. The echoes of time were so loud in this place, it wasn't surprising that he'd heard her voice.

"It feels safe," he answered to no one.

"That's nice, because I'm about to make it your grave." The human girl emerged from the shadows of the trees, fury screaming out of her body with every step.

Hikaru said nothing. He did, to her credit, take one step back toward the tree.

"You knew about my father," she accused. Her voice was harsh, like she'd been crying, or at least trying very hard not to. He figured it was the latter. She didn't strike him as someone who would let herself cry so easily. "I mean, you haven't told us anything from the start of all of this, but you knew. You knew how important that was, but you hid it anyway. Why didn't you tell me?"

"I knew it was your father who had been taken," he said. "I did not think that you needed to know. It would be better if you had never found out."

"How can you say that?" she asked, her voice escalating. "How can you just stand there and say that like it's nothing?"

"Reikai meant to protect you from yourself; to stop you from attempting to break through to Makai on your own and attempt anything reckless," he continued. "You're only proving their judgment of you to be correct. You can't process this information and so you've become enraged."

"My father was taken," she said, her tone low and dangerous. "No one can sense him anymore. He could be – he could be dead. You want me to be calm about this?"

"I could care less," he said flatly. "But in the mission's best interest you should be more rational."

"The mission?" She laughed in her disbelief. "Rational? Wow. They programmed you pretty good, huh?"

He said nothing. She stared at that awful, taciturn face. Did he feel nothing? Time to find out.

The trouble with an emotional fighter like Misaki is how simple it becomes to read their body language and figure out what move they will make. As she darted forward over the undergrowth, Hikaru easily stepped to the side. She was incredibly slow in this state, and threw her punch way too wide.

"This is foolish," he cautioned her, stepping away from another swing. But she continued to come at him.

"I agree," she snarled. "So why don't you just stand still and let me beat your face in?"

But he was fast, and moved through the forest like he belonged here. They left the shadow of the sugi tree and he became a blur of gray and black. She dropped her red jacket and took off after him. No point in making it any easier for him to see her.

"Do you really not understand the extent of your jackassery?"

Hikaru didn't answer. He had frozen, high up in the boughs of another conifer. There was a presence here, an energy that he hadn't sensed before. At first, he'd thought it might be the girl awakening the powers that usually lay dormant in her body, but this felt different. It wasn't human.

"Hiding from me? Really? You think that's going to work, you heartless jerk?"

He moved out of the way of the cannon of spirit energy that barreled through the tree with plenty of time, but was still taken aback by the range of the blast. A huge chunk of the canopy was gone, its edges sizzling where he'd been a moment before. Something tightened in his chest.

He threw her against the tree before she'd fully registered that he'd even appeared in front of her. Her wrists were shackled in his hands, pinned uselessly against the bark. She was shaking as she stared into his face, his eyes cold under his blue-black hair, and fear faltered into her heart alongside rage.

"Enough," he said. "Do you think anyone appreciates this tantrum you're having? Do you think it benefits anyone besides yourself? You're no better than a child."

She could feel his breath against her neck, and her face was burning. She tried to fight against his grip, but one warning squeeze told her that he could break her arms if ever he chose. He was much stronger than she'd given him credit for. No wonder Reikai allowed him to work alone. He didn't need her or Kazuki. He was babysitting them.

He saw the tears well up in her eyes probably before she sensed them herself. They were completely unwarranted and a total inconvenience to the both of them.

"Even if I am no better than a child, how do you expect me to act when I find out my father might be dead?" she said quietly, averting her eyes to the ground. She felt like she was practically radiating shame at this point. "Do you know how hard it is to be left behind in the first place? And now this?"

"No," he said, and released her.

The moment her hands were freed from his grip, she took a hard right hook into his gut. She heard the breath leave his body as he flew back into a tree, a shower of needles coming down onto them.

"Well, if you wanted to know, it kind of feels like that."

#

Akane stirred in her sleep, nestled into the crook of a bough of an ancient sugi tree. The images flashing behind her eyelids were taunting and cruel.

The forests of Makai were sinister and labyrinthine, dark pockets of shadow clustered in the roots and canopy of trees that could kill you just as easily as the creatures that took refuge there. There were countless opportunities for ambush. Perhaps that was why they had chosen that patrol in particular to take him from them.

The shadows writhed and split beneath her blade, untouchable even to an edge that could render stone into fragments. Knowing the danger of an unexpected enemy, she struggled to reach her father's side. She felt waterlogged, dragged down as though the misty vapor threaded through the trees had become dense and heavy. She threw out her hand, grasping for the edge of his black sleeve. But it was a shadow.

She pulled and twisted against the forces weighing her down. Another glimpse of him – red eyes that burned through all the darkness that was dripping down from the canopy in a viscous crawl. She slashed again, but the shadows parted and reformed around her arm. "Father," she called weakly, but the eyes danced further away into the black.

"That is not me." He appeared at her side in an instant, and hope surged in her chest as he extended a hand and forced the shadow to recoil. The Jagan was open, and the black vapors began to evaporate under its power. "The shadows are only a diversion. You must escape from here."

"But the Jagan – "

"Will only hold off the illusion."

It was true. As the shadows melted away she found herself perfectly mobile again. The forest was clear. A slender figure in a bronze mask was darting away under the trees.

And then she was screaming as her leg lit up in pain. With her next breath, her father's sword was through the skull of the demon serpent.

"Run, you fool!" he yelled. The shadows were converging again, but this time undaunted by the powers of the Jagan. It was unlikely they belonged to the illusion from her memory.

She scrambled into the canopy, her speed greatly lessened by the throbbing of her wretched leg and her hesitancy to leave him, despite the dictation of common sense. Unable to fight through her emotions, she turned, hoping that he would be only a step behind her, likely to shout at her again for her incompetence of slowing when she was clearly told to run.

But the shadows were pulling him down, as easily as if the forest floor had become a black ocean of fathomless depth. All of the warmth fled her body, and she couldn't move.

"Don't worry about him."

Her head snapped to her left, black hair whipping into her eyes. It was the creature in the mask again, crouched on a limb and looking for all the world as if it had been there the entire time.

"You'll be joining him, you see."

All of the weight returned to her body again, as though she were drowning in sand. She flattened against the tree, struggling just to get air into her lungs. It was pathetic. She was so weak…

A black blur collided into the masked creature, pummeling it onto the forest floor. Hiei glared up at her, his wrath flaring into a corporeal heat that scorched the earth around him. He didn't have to speak again. Akane drew her energy into a sharp point that she drove back into her own body, clawing her way through the foreign gravity exerted over her.

But it was in her flight that she realized her failure. The images of the wood, the shadows, the red eyes of her father urging her to run all clouded and began to fade. She was falling out of the trees, her leg on fire, her father's energy vanishing and his sword impaled into the ground, the only untouched object in a vacuum of fire and agony.

A bright burst of familiar energy shattered the nightmare as effectively as the sound of breaking glass. Akane gasped, pulling the near immaculate air of the mountainside into her distressed body. She blinked rapidly, every muscle tense as she forced herself to regain sanity and recall where she was. That blast of energy could only have come from one source. Granted, something of that magnitude would surely attract anything that might still be on her tail, but her options in Ningenkai were thinning out. After taking one more moment to collect herself, Akane sprung from the tree and took off sprinting through the undergrowth.


	5. Accusations

Thanks again for the reviews! I adore you. Also, now that NaNoWriMo is around the corner, my updates might be less frequent. I'll do my best to keep this going through November all the same.

#

"That was a mistake." Hikaru spat blood onto the ground as he regained his footing. The forest pitched around him for a moment, and he shifted his center of balance. It was a better hit than he wanted to admit.

"I'm thinking the only mistake is me wasting my time kicking your ass," Misaki said, turning her wrists and keeping the pain from showing on her face. Something cracked, and she let out a low hiss. She only had two shots left, and she wasn't about to enter Makai with zero arsenal. But she did want to at least leave his face in the dirt.

"No one here is going to allow you to enter Makai on your own," Hikaru said, as though he'd read her thoughts. "You're a fool to throw your life away when you know nothing about the enemy."

"So why don't you tell me something about yourself?"

Hikaru scoffed and started to circle her. He had to find a way to put her down quickly with minimal effort. He had an obnoxious feeling that if he gave her even the smallest chance to retaliate, she would take full advantage and throw him into another tree. He didn't like it the first time. "You're calling me the enemy?"

"Anyone who lies to me is my enemy," Misaki answered, glaring at him as he approached. "And what you're doing is as good as lying. So tell me, how come you act like you've been here before?"

Hikaru blinked, and she smirked. He hadn't thought she'd noticed. It was nice to see that he wasn't on top of all of his shit all the time.

"I have been here before," he conceded. "Many times." His mouth was drawn into a thin line and his gray eyes were forcibly empty, his face rendered into a mask. "But I have not returned for years."

"But this is Genkai's land," Misaki said. "No one lives up here anymore, except the Kuwabaras sometimes. There's nothing here." She remembered the few summers in her childhood that she had come to the mountain with her parents, sometimes with her dad and sometimes without him. Genkai had always welcomed them. She had fond memories of her, like something akin to a grandmother, up until a harsh winter when she was eight. After the funeral, they seemed to visit less and less.

"Now that would be a lie," he said flatly.

Her face flushed in anger. She was getting very fed up with this imposter. Whoever he was, she knew he had no place in her memories of the compound. It belonged to Genkai and her friends. "Remember the whole stand still while I hit you thing? I think we should give that another shot."

He'd missed a chance. Her guard had been down while she was questioning him, but she'd also gotten his mind to wander. Damn. He was really losing his touch. It was this place. He couldn't keep his thoughts straight when he was here.

Misaki wasn't the kind of fighter that waited for openings, or cared about taking things down with minimal effort. Her frustration manifested itself into a cry of anger as she ran straight for him, thinking a good punch to the mouth might teach him not to lie with it.

He dodged it easily, lighting on a low branch of a large spruce, barely shaking the needles loose. Her rage made her completely blind in battle, and something about that made him stare at her as she planted her feet beneath the tree and began hollering crude expletives up at him. He felt vaguely… angry. What might she call it? Right. Pissed off.

"Don't waste your strength," he told her as she started to scramble up the tree after him.

"Just because – you're too much – ugh, this sucks – of a coward – to come down and fight me –"

He materialized in front of her face as she was reaching for the next branch, and she froze, staring into his cold eyes and feeling a line of sweat trail down from the nape of her neck.

"If you really cared about your father, you wouldn't be wasting your time on a triviality such as this."

Her face instantly colored and she opened her mouth to scream at him again, but he clapped a hand over it before she could get a word out.

"Quiet. It draws near."

"What?" she asked, though it didn't sound anything like that when she tried to talk through his hand. She wrenched it away from her face, nearly dislodging herself from the tree in the process. He instead used it to grab her arm.

"I said quiet. Like your life depends on it."

Thoroughly less than pleased that Hikaru was now helping her not fall out of the tree that she had planned to knock him out of, Misaki gave him a look of pure contempt. His gaze was trained on something in the distance. She tried to follow his line of sight, but couldn't see, let alone sense, anything.

"If your friend were here, he'd be able to pinpoint it better," Hikaru muttered. "I'd thought he'd follow you for sure."

"Wait, you were planning on getting me out here?" she hissed. "And, hold on, did you just give Kazuki a compliment?"

"It never happened," he said, and then tightened his grip on her arm.

"Ow-"

"We need to move, now."

It didn't really matter that he'd told her. Within the next instant they were both on the ground, and Misaki wasn't entirely certain how she'd gotten there so fast.

"This is worse than I anticipated," Hikaru said, his voice low and hoarse. Misaki noted acutely that one of his arms was now around her waist. If she wanted to break his nose, now would be an excellent time. Before she had the chance, however, they moved again.

"Seriously, if you're going to teleport again, warn me," she growled at him, her eyes wide in her face and her pulse racing under her skin. "Where are we now? All these trees look the same to me."

"I cannot teleport," he said, his voice still grave, his eyes searching rapidly for a sign of movement. "And we moved roughly a hundred paces North."

"A hundred-" her voice died in her throat.

"Run all you want, child of Yusuke, but nothing on this plane is faster than me."

Hikaru stood, lightly shoving her into the underbrush. She opened her mouth to protest, but placed a hand behind his back and pointed his index finger straight up. _Be quiet_.

Her eyes took a moment to adjust from the shade cast by the branches weaving over her. She followed Hikaru's eyes, and this time, glimpsed the slight figure standing not fifty feet away. Was that what they'd been running from? It appeared shorter than Hikaru, possibly shorter than herself, wrapped in black save for a sliver of electric blue flashing from beneath a cloak, with the hood drawn up.

"For someone so proud, why do you hide your face?" Hikaru asked it.

"I did not address you. Leave now, and you may keep your life." Though the tone was flat and mirthless, Misaki thought it sounded like a girl. A seriously scary girl, but a girl nonetheless. "You need not protect her from me."

"He's not protecting me," Misaki snapped, stumbling to her feet and blaming her sudden lack of balance on being whisked around like a rag doll several times. "I can protect myself. Who the hell are you?"

Hikaru shot her an exasperated look over his shoulder, telling her at a glance that standing up and making herself known was exactly what he _hadn't_ wanted. "I suspect she is the ward of Hiei Jaganshi, Akane of Makai's border patrol. But what she is doing here," he refocused on the hooded figure, "is something I would like to know myself."

"By that arrogant tone, you can only be Reikai's current spirit detective. But you are wrong. I am no one's ward." She pulled back her hood, revealing deep blue eyes set into a face paled by exhaustion, framed by sleek black hair. She set those eyes upon Misaki, who felt immediately as though she were standing in a frozen wasteland, occupied only by a piercing wind. "You woke me up."

"I – I'm sorry?"

"I came here seeking the child of Yusuke, but I wasn't expecting you," the girl said, taking a step closer. But as she did so, Hikaru blocked Misaki from view.

"Reikai is in an uproar," Hikaru said. "Hiei vanished and you came here. Regardless of the fact that you do not belong here, I need to know why."

"Ah, yes," Akane said, her eyes flinty. "Reikai doesn't much like it when I do something that bends their little system out of shape. Is that why you're here, detective? You want to put me back in my place?" Suddenly, Akane's eyes flicked to the right, distracted by something. Hikaru sensed it as well, his body stiffening ever so slightly.

Misaki was infuriated. Not having this crazy sense thing made her feel completely useless in situations like this. "What? What the hell could it be this time?"

"Is it his intent to alert everything on the mountain?" Akane asked, annoyance plain on her face.

"I don't believe he is capable of anything else," Hikaru answered.

Kazuki fought his way through the trees, yelling when he finally had a visual on Hikaru and Misaki. "Hey, you guys, you really don't want to mess with that chick!" He panted as though he'd run the entire way, his dyed red hair sticking up even more than usual and full of leaves. "I'm serious!"

"I should've guessed," Misaki said, rolling her eyes.

"You are acquainted with this human?" Akane inquired, looking at Kazuki with a small smirk of amusement. "His spirit energy is unusual."

"Not as unusual as yours," Kazuki puffed. "Is this the demon we're supposed to bag, whats-your-face?"

Hikaru gave him a wearied look.

"Demon?" Misaki echoed, trying to sidestep Hikaru to get a better look at Akane. "That girl? Really?"

Hikaru resisted the urge to bury his face in his hands, as tempting as it was. What Misaki lacked in sense she made up for in strength, but together with Kazuki, he was herding a matched pair of idiots.

"You really can't tell, Misaki?" Kazuki asked, looking back and forth between his companions and the cloaked demon.

"Can you also not tell that the detective is half-demon? Clearly, I am dealing with Reikai's finest."

She felt like she had the breath knocked out of her as she stared at Hikaru's back. He stood completely still, despite her eyes boring holes into his back. "You're kidding, right?" Misaki said, but she saw Kazuki bite his lip. "Seriously? Did you know, Kaz?"

"Not really. I kind of had a feeling, but it wasn't anything concrete. He's really good at hiding it."

Misaki took a step back and tried to remember to breathe. How many other things was everyone keeping from her? Who the hell was she supposed to trust if even her best friend wasn't telling her that they were working with one demon to find another?

"Misaki, I'm sorry, I really didn't know," Kazuki tried to say, but she put a hand up.

"I'm getting really sick of this, so how about we just stop it all right now?" she said, glaring around at the three people in front of her. "You. Demon girl. What was your name, again?"

"Akane," she answered, looking at the human girl with a certain degree of interest.

"I'll talk to you. As for you two," she rounded on Kazuki and Hikaru, who still seemed to be pretending that she wasn't there. "I don't even want to see your faces for a little bit, okay?"

"What did I do?" Kazuki exclaimed. "I told you I didn't like this guy from the very start."

"If you are implying that you're going to stay out here alone with that particular demon –" Hikaru finally turned to face her, but she didn't really feel like giving him any more chances.

"I don't really care what you have to say anymore, Hikaru. We're all going to walk back to the compound. You two are going to walk in front. Way in front. I'm going to talk to Akane. You are going to leave me alone."


End file.
